BERLIN, January 16 (RIA Novosti, Olga Semyonova) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will face her packed agenda on her first working visit to Moscow Monday, a diplomatic source in Berlin said.
Merkel's talks with Vladimir Putin will focus on international affairs, including the stand-off around Iran's nuclear programs, terrorism, and Russia's presidency of the G8 club of the world's most industrialized nations in 2006.
According to the source, she is also scheduled to attend a reception hosted by the German Embassy in Moscow that will be attended by politicians, members of non-governmental organizations, academics, and religious representatives.
In fact, Iran and energy are likely to dominate Merkel's talks with Putin. Germany is one of the trio of European nations - the other two are the United Kingdom and France - that is trying to end the developing crisis around the Islamic Republic's contentious research. Moscow has consistently defended Iran's right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and is building an $800-million plant in the city of Bushehr, but has expressed its "disappointment" over Tehran's decision last Tuesday to restart its nuclear research at three facilities. Representatives of the European Union, Russia, China and the United States will meet in London Monday to discuss the situation, with the latter expected to push for the issue to be referred to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions on Tehran if it is found to be in breach of its international commitments.
Energy security, which Russia has put at the top of its agenda as G8 president, will also come under the spotlight, particularly given that Europe suffered its first shortfalls of Russian natural gas supplies in the last few decades during a dispute with Ukraine over prices. Russia and Germany are currently building a multi-billion dollar pipeline under the Baltic Sea that should cut out transit countries in the future.
Meanwhile, a Kremlin source said the visit would contribute to Russian-German strategic partnership, with the leaders set to discuss bilateral agenda for 2006, including the eighth round of ministerial talks in the Siberian city of Tomsk in spring.
Economic issues are also high on the agenda, the source said. Germany is Russia's biggest trade partner, with Russian-German trade hitting a record high of $32 billion in 2005, a 30% increase from 2004, and German investment in Russia increasing by 19% in 9M05 on year, reaching $1.4 billion.
